Furniture Forum

Home office furniture
compared to Commercial Office Furniture

Differences in the two can be subtle or dramatic

Both are available for you to
buy. Which you choose really depends on your personal use. As
a general rule, commercial furniture is built for heavy daily
use. You see a lot more steel construction in desks from
brands like HON. While functional, these steel desks are not
particularly attractive in a home environment. They are not
designed for that purpose. Virtually all of the metal products
made for home office use are on the very inexpensive side of
the business and would not hold up to commercial use. Some
even state this on their products.

There are a number of commercial grade wood office groups out
there from many different companies. Many of them also make
"HO" or home-office offerings, that crossover between
divisions. DMI from FlexSteel, is an excellent example. They
are currently the #1 manufacturer of commercial wood office
groups, and make some of the best home office product, under
their higher end Wynwood division.

Much of the consumer grade product is produced as "RTA", or
Ready-To-Assemble. This is also known as "KD" or Knock-Down
product. Building furniture in this manner makes it much less
expensive to ship. The drawback is that completely KD
furniture might not be as sturdy for commercial use. Because
of this, most commercial grade office product is shipped as
completely assembled furniture from the factory.

Some manufacturers produce RTA commercial grade. Sauder, and
to some extent, Ashley, are good examples. Sauder's higher end
product and Ashley's mid-line product is KD, but designed for
heavier use. These items ship in disassembled parts. It tends
to be less expensive because of production and transportation
savings. Ashley's high-end product, like most high-end office
furniture is shipped assembled. Fortunately, there is a wide
selection of vendors from which to choose, depending on your
budget, work requirements, and the look you are trying to
achieve in the room.

If you just want function to hold up a laptop, you need not
spend much money. If you want an office space in
your home that makes you feel productive when using it,
you may need to expand your budget a bit. If you want a
sumptuous office space that presents an image to your
visitors, then a wide selection of beautiful furniture is
available to you.